


Fountains Don't Always Flow with Water

by Vurelly



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Airbender Lotor, Airbender Zarkon, Alternate Universe - Avatar & Benders Setting, Avatar Allura, BAMF Lance (Voltron), BAMF Pidge | Katie Holt, Earthbender Hunk (Voltron), Firebender Keith (Voltron), Liquid Metalbender Shiro, Multi, Nonbender Coran, Waterbender Lance (Voltron), get ready for, however extremely tech savvy pidge, like tech savvy enough to kick everybody's butts, nonbender pidge, tbh im adding tags as the series progesses so forgive me, they're airbenders, yeah - Freeform, you read that right
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-20
Updated: 2017-10-16
Packaged: 2018-11-16 06:31:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11248251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vurelly/pseuds/Vurelly
Summary: Lance has spent the better half of his life under constant watch behind the walls of the Southern Water Tribe, hiding a secret only meant to be known by his parents and his closest family members. Still, secrets get out just as easily as waterbending princes tired of being watched and kept behind walls like his life depends on it.Then again, once out on the ice and in the hold of a pair of benders he's never even seen before, Lance begins to think those walls kept him in for a reason.





	1. How Fountains are Made

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everybody! It's been quite a while since I've started a project this big (and a first for a project on AO3) so forgive me if updates take some time! This universe takes a lot of aspects of the ATLA universe but it doesn't exactly follow the timeline.
> 
> However! Before you begin reading let me start with this is not my AU idea to claim! It's based entirely on hardlynotnever's tumblr posts (found here: https://hardlynotnever.tumblr.com/post/153889714290/metalbender-shiro-and-fire-for-hire-firebender and here: https://hardlynotnever.tumblr.com/post/153973374340/yall-rly-into-that-avatar-au-lmao-so-im-sharing ) so please check them out! I've been following them on tumblr for quite some time but only just recently saw their Avatar AU ideas and I just fell in love with it so I figured it deserved a little love in some writing.
> 
> If somebody's already written for this AU before, that's awesome and I'd love to be told about it or even linked to it! But please don't make comments based on which you think is better, I'd hate for myself or another writer to feel put down by negative commentary.  
> Finally, enjoy reading!

When the Southern Water Tribe had caught word that there would be an addition to Marie and Leon’s family the news had spread like wildfire. Perhaps it had not been of the best timing with the rise of the new Galra empire still growing, but the thought of a new prince in the tribe brought hope in a time when it was hard to find any at all. 

So the people of the Southern Water Tribe waited for the young prince with growing excitement. Families brought what food they could to make any part of the pregnancy easier on the parents. Their home steadily began to fill with carefully woven blankets and finely crafted clothing for the infant to wear once born and the parents found themselves infinitely grateful towards the people of their tribe, blissful and at peace in the walls of their own home now as they carried on without worry. Unfortunately, however, plans don’t always fall through as they are intended. 

Marie fell ill. At first, she had denied all aspects of it; it had to be a side effect of the pregnancy, it was just a little sniffle, Leon, calm down. As the days passed into weeks, however, she began to think perhaps she was wrong.

The expecting mother’s body grew weaker with time. No longer could her legs hold the weight of both her body and her child’s, her chest ached with the constant hacking that rung through to her very core and even the tribe’s best healer found she could do nothing to heal her.

“It’s an illness in the child that’s transferring through to the mother,” She had told the parents, Leon clinging desperately to his wife’s trembling hand. “Until the child is born or… otherwise, I’m afraid I can’t do anything to help.” 

Leon had gotten angry at her, understandably so. He had yelled as she left their home, shouted curses at her even after their room had only held his bedridden wife, his unborn child, and himself.

Marie, ever-patient, held his hand through his swearing, through his anger and the hollow acceptance that followed it. She watched as her husband sat at their bedside, still grasping her quaking hand even as tears slipped down brown cheeks from eyes that’d lost their fire in only a matter of minutes. She hated every second of it.

With a fierceness she had not felt in weeks, Marie pulled her husband into her arms. She gripped his clothes with a dying strength and cried with him, cried for him. She wailed into him, mourning for the loss of the son she never would never get to hold because he was killing her from the inside out while he was dying, himself. She wept for the loss of the husband she still held in her arms, the husband she feared she would never hold again. She sobbed for the people she would be so horribly robbing of hope.

She was a broken woman and cradled in her arms was a broken man. The perfect family, she had thought bitterly, to bring into this world the corpse of a child they would never get to see so much as smile.  
The parents took the night to mourn. They spoke in soft undertones, half-hearted laughter filling the air as they spoke of a world where everything would be fine, where their son would live to grow to become the loveliest little boy the Southern Water Tribe- no, the world would ever have the luxury of living in the presence of. They clutched to each other as tear-stains renewed upon brown cheeks and they whispered futures into the empty night air where their wonderful their son could have lived in.

They took their time to speak to one another. Marie found only peace in Leon’s words as he murmured to her separate futures that, eventually, turned to new ways to fix their child’s illness. She took the time to kiss away each of his tears, remaining calm even as he grew more desperate to come up with a solution to their impossible problem.

Northern Water Tribe healers, he would try to offer, even as she shook her head and told him he would be okay without them. Yet still he begged. He pleaded for her to fight with him for this one thing even if only for that night. He would give her anything, an entirely new diet from far offshore to help their child grow, a new bed to give him an easier way to sleep and live through the illness, a prayer--

And that was where the pair froze.

Marie had looked to Leon’s for the first time in hours of that night, her lips cracking apart with a watery smile. Perhaps that was their answer. Perhaps all they needed was a prayer.

And pray they did. The weeks following their mournful night the parents would pray to the Moon Spirit. They offered what they could to her, begged her for their unborn son to once again be made healthy so he could show the world the potential the parents already knew he held.

In time they found that they’d been heard. Coughing stopped filling every waking hour of the day and night, her legs could once more carry Marie and her child began to grow again.

Weeks started to pass without trouble once more and when Marie fell back to bed rest it was due to the progression of a healthy pregnancy rather than the progression of a fatal illness. The parents were elated, thrilled they would be able to grasp that future that they once only dared to speak of. That was, until the day it came.

It was in the middle of a summer storm, one the Southern Water Tribe had been experiencing for days before the birth of the young prince. It seemed it had no intention of letting up, passing through viciously even as the wails of Marie cut through the howling winds of the storm. The gale outside their home cut at the walls viciously, whistling loudly through the homes over even the cries of children clutching at their parent's arms in the middle of the night.

Until an infant’s wail filled the bedroom of Marie and Leon’s home. The sniveling mother gathered up their son in her arms for the first time, a warm smile on her face even as her child cried out into the night, fearful of the new world he’d been brought into.

And as if hearing the child’s cries the ocean rushed forward. Seawater flooded the homes of the Southern Water Tribe left and right before finally reaching the home of the newest prince. It grasped tirelessly at the ankles of his parent’s bed as if trying to reach to the baby boy himself while it continued to flow into the room.

It wasn’t a cry, though, that left the prince’s mouth as he opened his eyes to peer down into the ocean water below, but laughter. Laughter that bubbled up so quickly in the boy he seemed to shriek with delight as he raised chubby fingers to reach out to the water his father was restlessly attempting to bend out of their home. And where his hands went, the water followed.

His parents suddenly understood the consequences of their prayers to the Moon Spirit. 

As the night of his birth passed they watched the ocean water reluctantly recede from their room as their son fell into a fitful slumber. They stared at the tiny baby in his mother’s arms and understood all too soon their son could not live the carefree life they’d wanted so badly for him.

For if the Galra knew about their son, he would surely be taken from them.


	2. Safety Is The Number One Priority

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We're not the only ones who meet two new benders this chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man, I'm so excited I got this chapter out a day earlier than I originally expected! Let me tell you, the amount of positive feedback I've gotten on this thus far is way more than I originally expected. I've never been so excited to actually start writing so much again? 
> 
> Don't get me wrong, proofreading this thing is a nightmare and a half. The number of times I had to go back and rewrite a scene entirely because I didn't like the wording in the first chapter alone kind of killed me at four this morning but as far as I'm concerned it was totally worth it. 
> 
> So per usual, don't forget; this isn't my AU to claim! All inspiration I've had for it thus far has come from hardlynotnever's artwork and headcanons so please check out their blog sometime! They've got some wicked nice artwork! You can find it at: https://hardlynotnever.tumblr.com/
> 
> Also if you see any other writers writing for this AU please remember to be kind! (Also, maybe send me a message to notify me of its existence? I'm way interested in reading how other people take this.)
> 
> I'll be leaving notes at the end of the chapter as well to let you know about the next chapter and explain some things about this one, so be sure to read them if you're interested! 
> 
> I hope you enjoy this chapter! It's almost quadruple the length of the last one, so there'll be a lot more to read this time around.

“Keith, I’m home!” Was a way Shiro would’ve really liked to start regularly greeting his boyfriend when he walked into their apartment. It would’ve been nice to just step inside, wipe his shoes off on their placemat, and collapse on the couch beside the front door where his favorite firebender would be waiting for him. It would’ve been nice to  _ not _ walk into a pile of suitcases stacked so high by the door that it nearly toppled over and sealed him in a pathetic death for an eternity before he even got to say hello to his boyfriend.

"Keith!” Shiro shouted from under the pile of suitcases that were waiting by the door to do  _ just that. _ He scanned the front hall desperately for his boyfriend before pushing the suitcases off his shoulder and against the couch, sighing at the few that went tumbling over it.

He rubbed sorely at the bruise that was sure to form on his shoulder and traipsed down the hall to the kitchen. Keith snickered from its doorway where he had so kindly popped his head out to watch Shiro fall victim to the avalanche of suitcases now towering slightly less impendingly beside their front door.

“Welcome home, Shiro.” He grinned.

“Why?” Shiro sighed, propping himself against the entryway at Keith’s side. “And don’t give me that, ‘Oh, Shiro, I have no idea what you mean’ look because you know exactly what I mean.  _ Why _ have you packed suitcases and  _ why _ are they by the front door?”

Keith huffed in indignation. His smile fading to a more sheepish grin as he sucked his lower lip into his mouth to worry it between his teeth - a nervous habit he reminded himself to kick later. “Well… You know that police you keep on your nightstand in case you have to get up in the middle of the night and go help with something?”

Shiro pinched the bridge of his nose. “You did  _ not. _ ”

“I… might’ve.” 

“Keith.” Shiro groaned.

“To be fair!” Keith blurted out. “You just told me not to interfere with your work! I didn’t respond to anything, I just listened!”

Shiro moaned, running his flesh hand over his face. “I’ll remind myself to be more specific next time.” He lamented. 

“And I’ll remind you not to.” Keith said at his boyfriend’s stern expression. “Look, either way, I heard some  _ really  _ interesting things about the Galra on a, uh… non-police station channel…”

“Tell me you weren’t listening in on a military channel again.”

Keith winced again. “Before I do allow me to remind you our relationship is one built on trust and honesty and that you’re also the one who asked  _ me _ out so if that doesn’t go to say something...”

“Keith!”

“I know!” Keith huffed, throwing his hands up in frustration. His lips pulled into a snarl with frustration as the countertop burned beneath his palms. “But listen, Shiro! Somebody said that Zarkon was moving a navy fleet down to the south with  _ Prince Lotor _ in it.”

Yet another sigh escaped Shiro’s lips as his body slumped even further against the doorway of their kitchen. If this conversation was going where he thought it was… oh, what he would give to be able to sink into the drywall.

“Alright.” Shiro drawled, the fingers he’d pinched his nose with moving from his face only for him to create a hopeless gesture. “What does this…  _ Why _ does this connect to the suitcases by the front door?”

“I want to go to the South Pole too.”

_ Patience yields focus, Takashi.  _ Shiro placed his hand on his cheek in thought and took a deep breath. “Okay.” He said.

“Okay,” Keith echoed steadily, undeterred by his boyfriend’s lack of emotional response.

Shiro closed his eyes, taking his time to think Keith’s words through thoroughly. His face twisted into a thoughtful pout and slowly he pulled himself from his place against the kitchen door and stepped into the kitchen.

“Say we go.” Shiro reasoned, his eyes opening again to focus on Keith. “Say we get a boat and the right clothing and I find some way to get enough time off work to go do this with you--”

“I might have already taken care of that.” Keith interjected, indigo eyes darting away with nervousness.

A slow breath left Shiro’s lips. “Alright. Then, say we do everything we need to prepare ourselves to go down to the South Pole and  _ we go _ . What do we do there?”

Keith swallowed, his hopeful energy starting to return under Shiro’s interested stare. “Well, that’s part of the reason  _ why _ I wanted to go. See, I talked to a guy today about a job- Don’t give me that look, Takashi--” He fumed, pushing an accusing at Shiro who simply averted his gaze innocently toward the trashcan in the corner of the kitchen. “Anyway, I talked to him about a job down in the South Pole, more specifically in the Southern Water Tribe and from what he tells me, the Galra have suddenly caught a lot of interest in a certain waterbending prince who lives there and they’d pay big money for him.”

“You are _not_ insinuating we kidnap a _prince_ and sell him to the Galra Empire.” Shiro gaped. “Keith, I know you take a lot of jobs like that but those are mainly criminals, this is just-”

“No!” Keith moaned, gripping Shiro’s cheeks and pulling the man down to his height. “I’m saying we might be able to find whoever this kid is and use him for ourselves! Think, if he’s important enough to Zarkon that he feels the need to send his own son to get him, then you know he would be of just as much importance to… well, you know…” Keith trailed off.

It was enough to make Shiro pause. On one hand, it could go over smoothly, without a problem in the slightest and the two of them could make off with a waterbending prince that could actually be of use. On the other hand, it could go horribly, they’d be making enemies with both the Galra Empire and the Southern Water Tribe and, worse case scenario, they’d be hunted down and gutted like animals for treason.

He lifted his head from Keith’s hands, his eyebrows knitting with thought as he looked back to the suitcases now toppled over by the front door.

It was tempting, that much Shiro could admit, but he couldn’t think of only temptations. Still, if they played their cards for this  _ right… _ the turnout could be astounding.

With a resigned sigh and a weary grin, he looked back to Keith who was once again staring at him expectantly. “Well, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to ‘check it out,’” Shiro mused.

He just hoped they wouldn’t come to regret it.

 

* * *

 

_ “Lance!” _

Polar leopard skins whipped from the clothing line they had been clipped to only moments ago as a certain brunette prince bounded out from behind them. An apology just barely escaped his lips before he was off running, jetting up the snow-ridden streets of his home with an elated laugh.

A cry of distress sounded out behind him his lips stretched into a grin as he shot a glance over his shoulder. The crumpled, yet absolutely  _ pissed _ , figure of his aunt lied on the icy road behind him, calling out his name angrily as she attempted to regain her balance on the frozen path.

_ One down, one to go!  _ He cheered internally as he slipped into a quiet alleyway to follow a less obvious path toward the edge of town.

Pushing his head between another clothesline at the end of the alley, Lance peered down the street cautiously in search for anything out of place before he tore through the animal skins and took off into a sprint once more. He felt the snow behind him kicking up in flurries behind him and couldn’t help but leap with joy as he chased the stretch of road up to the plains of ice at the edge of the tribe’s territory.

_ Just a bit further _ , he breathed, the grin on his face stretching wider with the promise of victory.  _ A little further and I’m out of here and--  _ His grin fell.

Additionally, he made a note to himself to never run full speed down these streets again as he found his feet locked up in a block of ice so fast he didn’t have the time to stop his own body from following their momentum and flipping over itself.

Lance held his in the groan that bit at the back of his throat and rolled onto his back. He ignored the deep ache worming its way into his wrist in favor for the figure slowly approaching from the opposite end of the street. Oh, how he  _ hoped _ and  _ prayed _ that wasn’t who he thought it was.

Luck was not on his side. “Hi, Dad!” He grinned sheepishly, bringing a hand up to wipe the snow from his face as he sat up. “How’s it hanging? I hope well! Did you know I heard from Reyna today that your first son really, really loves you and thinks you shouldn't punish him for his own stupid actions because he knows that's what his kind and loving father wouldn't do?”

Leon looked unamused by Lance’s words as he stared sternly down at his son. “Lance.” He said, his name rolling off his tongue absolutely  _ dripping _ with disappointment, Lance had never felt more guilty in his life. Except for maybe the last time he did this.

“I know, I know…” He cringed. “Our family here keeps me inside the walls of our tribe because it is your duty to protect and make sure no harm comes to me in the time it takes for me to complete my training to become a master waterbender. I’m sorry.” Lance grumbled sourly. It was a spiel he’d heard a thousand times before and was sure he was doomed to hear a thousand times more. It wasn’t his fault, though! He just wanted some time  _ away _ from the tribe. Some time to himself.

His father sighed as took Lance’s hand into his own and pulled him off the ground. The ice around his feet turned back to water and slid into the gutter along the street.

“If you’re so sorry, maybe you should start following the rules.” Leon sighed.

Lance glared at the gutter hotly. “I would if you treated me a little more fairly.” Lance bit out.

“And what exactly is that supposed to mean?” Leon asked.

“You know exactly what I mean!” Lance spat. “Everybody else gets to go out whenever they want! Ricky and Maya aren’t even  _ halfway through _ their waterbending training and already they get out more than I do! And don’t even get me started on Reyna, she doesn’t even bend and you still let her do whatever she wants and yet when it comes to me you can’t let me out of your sight for two seconds because you’re trying to keep me  _ safe? _ Why don’t you keep your other kids safe?”

“You know exactly why we can’t treat you like your siblings, Lance.”

“But it’s all a load of buffalo yak crap!” Lance cried. “The Galra aren’t here, Dad! They aren’t going to whisk me away like you and Mom fear because they don’t even know I exist outside of my political status! And even if they  _ were _ to come to the South Pole they wouldn’t think of me as anything other than another waterbender!”

“Lance!” Leon snapped, peering around warily at the concerned stares of the people around them. He set his gaze back onto his son and took in a deep breath. “I know you want to explore what you can of the South Pole, what you can of the  _ world _ , but you can’t. The problem isn’t whether the Galra knows now or not, the problem is that they could find out and we couldn’t have the Galra taking you away from us. Not now, not ever.”

Lance looked away from his father, his expression turning bitter.

“I’m sorry.” Leon breathed. “I really am. Your mother and I didn’t want this life for you, but until we’re sure that you can control your power--”

“I can’t leave the South Pole.” Lance sighed, his shoulders sagging with each word. “I know, I get it.”

Leon heaved another sigh and placed his hand on Lance’s shoulder. “Come on, let’s walk.” He said, steering Lance off in the direction he had just come running from.

Lance bit the inside of his cheek, shooting a longing glance back at the plain of ice that he’d been so close to reaching and now, more than ever, longed to reach. Still, he knew better than to cross his father twice in one day. With the heavy crunch of snow beneath his feet, Lance trudged alongside his father. He kept his gaze glued hotly to the ground as he picked at his sleeves, ignoring the calls of the tribe greeting his father at his side in favor of getting lost in his own thoughts.

He just wanted to know if he’d  _ ever _ get the chance to leave the Southern Water Tribe. It wasn’t that he didn’t love his home, it was just that he knew the world had so much  _ more _ to offer. Even with the Galra Empire having monopolized much of the land the world had to offer, there were still portions of nations that were  _ free _ from its grasp.

True, all of the Air Temples had been taken (not that Lance would even have a way of  _ getting _ to them in the first place) as well as most of the former Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom territories, but there was so much more out there! The outskirts of the former nations still thrived, and Lance knew for a fact that the Northern Water Tribe was just as free from Galra reign as the South! At the very  _ least _ , he just wanted to see what he could make of the North.

Distantly, Lance picked up the sound of the bay’s waves gently lapping against the sides of the port as he pulled himself from his thoughts. He stared out at open water with confusion and looked to his father, only then noticing they had stopped.

“I can’t let you outside of the tribe,” Leon sighed, his weary gaze falling to Lance. “But I figure I  _ can _ give you the day off of training that you deserve. Of course, as long as you promise to stay within the confines of the port and market.”

Lance’s previous state of anger dissipated at once as his expression light up with pure, unadulterated joy. “I promise!” He cheered. He launched himself immediately into his father’s arms with a delighted laugh, the bay water behind him mimicking his excitement as it hammered against the harbor’s walls and docked ships.

The cry of a sailor followed by the splash of water cut Lance’s glee short, however. He let go of his father, calling out a sheepish apology to the man as the water stilled once more.

Lance grinned to his father excitedly. “I’ll be home by six?” He offered, his smile only stretching wider at Leon’s approving nod.

“I’ll tell your mother that I canceled your waterbending lessons for today.” Leon said, Lance, pulling a chuckle from him as he hopped around excitedly. “Now go run off before you bring down the entire harbor.”

Lance couldn’t remember the last time he ran so fast in his life.

It felt  _ great. _ The first few hours he spent wandering up and down the marketplace tirelessly, stopping at each and every stall and, more than once, nearly getting pulled into buying something he really didn’t need.

In the end, he  _ did _ get tempted by the food. By tempted, however, he meant he ended up buying more food than his body could handle and he spent at  _ least _ a half hour sitting on the edge of the sidewalk while he waited for his stomach to settle. It’d been far too long since his last visit to the market, he found.

Still, even the market had its end. After hours of wandering the stalls aimlessly, the young prince found himself coming back up to the same stalls again. And again. And  _ again.  _ He had three more hours to kill before he had to go home and the last thing he wanted to do waste it by continually returning to the same things he’d already been seeing all day.

He was at his wit's end, sooner ready to jump into the harbor than waste more time in the market until he noticed something he hadn’t seen before.

For a moment, Lance couldn’t believe his luck. There was  _ no _ way he was seeing what he thought he was seeing. Yet as Lance stepped down the brick path he couldn’t help but grin because that was  _ definitely _ an exit to the rest of the South Pole between the two stalls he was staring down.

He stepped closer to the frigid breeze passing between the stalls and Lance almost couldn’t bite back his excitement.  _ Almost. _

His promise to his father came back up like bile and Lance cringed. He shouldn’t even be thinking of leaving the market right now, it was a horrible idea and as a prince, he should know better… But he didn’t know the next time he’d get the chance to do this.

Sure, the rest of the South Pole might just harbor ice, ice, and more ice, but he knew that the polar leopard skins came from somewhere and Arctic Hens didn’t just pop up out of nowhere someday. If anything, he could go out and see animals in their natural habitat for once. 

He’d come right back, he tried to reason with himself to ease his own guilt, already slipping between the cracks of the stalls. Dad would never have to know, as far as he knew Lance was keeping his promise like the good waterbender he raised him to be.

Lance would’ve sneered at that the second he pulled himself out the other side of the stalls had his attention not been taken away by a sudden shout.

“Excuse me!” 

Lance was going to die already, he knew it. Dad knew already. Lance didn’t know how he knew, but he just knew and now he was going to die because he sent one of his cousins to come kill him and-- that... was not one of his cousins.

The owner of the voice came running across the snow to Lance, obviously a visitor if the black parka and lack of stability he carried himself on the snow with were anything to go by. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you, it’s just--” Oh, he had a nice voice. A nice face, too, at that, albeit, the scar tissue running horizontally across his nose was a bit offsetting. Not to mention the shock of white hair on his head.

Lance was actually tempted to ask how he got his hair like that before he zoned back in on the conversation. “--so can you help me? Please, he’s really badly injured.”

“Woah, what?” Lance faltered. “I’m sorry can you run that by me one more time?”

Handsome Man sighed as if he didn’t have the time to run it by him again but didn’t have a choice. “My brother got attacked by a polar bear dog on the ice while we traveling and I didn’t pack any medical supplies so I ran back here to try to find a healer. So I was wondering if had any training in it and if you could come help me with my brother.”

“Oh.” Lance hissed as he shot a glance back at the stalls behind him. “I don’t know-- I mean, I can but I’m not supposed to be out here right now. I-If you could wait five minutes, I could go get my mother! She’s one of the best healers in the tribe--”

“He doesn’t have time for that, please!” Handsome Man cried. “If you think you could heal him, I’m begging you, please come with me-- he needs a healer as soon as possible, he was just barely holding on when I left.”

Lance cringed. He bounced nervously on the balls of his feet as he thought it over briefly. Then, with a sudden resolve, he nodded.

“Okay.” He said. “Take me to your brother.”

_ “Thank you,”  _ Handsome Man breathed. 

He took Lance’s hand in one of his own, the movement bringing back the ache in his wrist from earlier tenfold, and lead him in the direction Lance assumed he had just come from as quickly as his legs would carry him. Lance was just thankful he could keep up. If he hadn’t grown up in the South Pole, Lance had no doubt he would’ve been stumbling over his feet to try to keep pace with the man.

Even then, their walk felt like it was taking  _ forever _ . Lance had never been so far outside the tribe-- correction, he’d never been outside the tribe, period. The thought that he was further from his family now than he’d ever been in his life only made him feel nervous. He was ready to just heal this guy’s brother and head back home.

Finally, as they slid down from a rather steep hill of snow, they reached the man’s snowmobile. There was another one beside his, Lance could only assume it was for the brother he was talking about, and a fair size sled attached to the back of both of them. However, Lance couldn’t seem to find any trace of the man’s brother or any trace of a polar bear dog attack, for that matter.

“Uh…” Lance coughed, awkwardly tugged at the betrothal necklace around his neck as Handsome Man turned around. “So… Where’s this brother I need to heal…?”

“Right here.” 

Lance yelped as his head was jerked back without warning and a slip of dark cotton fixed itself over his eyes. A knee dug into his spine and Lance crumpled to the ground with a gasp. 

He flipped on his back before he could find himself on the bad end of another attack. He took a wild guess on where he was standing last and kicked  _ hard.  _ His boot hit solidly against a leg and the resulting cry, Lance found, was  _ way _ too pitchy to be Handsome Man’s. He guessed that one was the brother.

Lance twisted back to his feet, kicking once again at the brother just as he heard his feet take a running start and smirked at the unmistakable sound of a man getting hit in the face with snow fast enough to be thrown back.

Lance lifted his hands, ready to strike another blow on the brother only to find he couldn’t move them. In fact, he couldn’t even move his legs.

“Struggling won’t do you much good.” 

Lance’s eyes widened behind his blindfold at the sound of Handsome Man’s voice. He was suddenly hyper aware of the frigid liquid that had been branching from the base of his spine to every limb of his body. From the tips of his toes to the clothes covering his collarbone, he could feel it, moving like liquid and yet so unlike it in every way, constricting his movement and only climbing higher.

“What…” Lance ground out. What was  _ on _ him? It couldn’t be water, he would’ve been able to move if it was, maybe even bend it to his own use will, so how…

“Liquid metal.” Handsome Man stated, answering the question Lance didn’t even get to finish. “It’s a complicated type of earthbending. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to bend your way out of this one.”

“I can’t believe you told him I was your brother, Shiro.” The brother’s voice came back, interrupting their brief conversation. His footsteps sizzled angrily in the snow as he made his way back to the pair. 

At the very least, Lance knew Handsome Man’s name now.

“He’s a family man, Keith,” And there was the brother’s name now. “He was more trusting to me thinking you were my brother than he would’ve been thinking you were my boyfriend.” Okay, so, not his brother. “I’m sorry I hurt your feelings, but this was the fastest way to get him out here.”

“Hey, sorry to interrupt your lover’s quarrel, but I’d really like to be let out of this now.” Lance interjected nervously, whatever metal Shiro was using was climbing up his throat at a reasonably steady pace and he wanted that to stop as soon as possible if given the option.

“Not happening.” Keith said, his footsteps traveling away from Lance and his voice going with them. “We’ve got to get both you and ourselves out of the South Pole before the Galra even step foot here.”

Lance’s heart dropped to his stomach. “Wait-- what?”

“The Galra?” Keith repeated. “You know, the empire that’s been staking a claim on most of the world since before any of us were born?” Lance quickly decided that he didn’t like this guy.

“I know what the Galra are!” Lance spat. “But if they’re on their way to the South Pole I have to get home! I have to go warn the tribe, I can’t just leave them, knowing  _ this!” _

“I’m sorry, Lance. We just can’t let you go.” Now it was back to Shiro. Lance was almost pissed that he sounded genuinely upset. “Prince Lotor will be here any second now with his navy fleet. You could have anywhere from minutes to hours to tell your family and we can’t risk you being caught.”

“Forget about the risk!” Lance shouted, his anger rising faster now than the metal on his neck. “If Prince Lotor will be there I  _ have _ to go back! He’ll kill countless families if they don’t have the time to prepare themselves against him!”

“I know it sounds horrible but it’s the lesser of two evils!”

“How could the slaughter of an entire tribe be the lesser of evils!?”

Shiro fell silent. Keith picked up in his place. “Prince Lotor is heading to the Southern Water Tribe to retrieve  _ you _ . We… aren’t exactly sure what he needs you for, political power or otherwise, but we assume that if the Galra needs you badly enough they’re sending their prince after you then the turnout of them getting their hands on you could be catastrophic.”

For the second time that day, Lance’s heart dropped. He didn’t think the situation could get any worse but, per usual, he was wrong. The thought that the Galra  _ knew _ about him… it was terrifying. It meant everything his parents had done, all the walls they’d put up, the days they’d spent chasing him through the streets, the relationships they’d lost due to them having to keep him a secret was for  _ nothing _ .

“ _ Please,” _ Lance begged, his desperation set anew as his voice strained against Shiro’s metal around his throat. It climbed ever closer to his mouth and Lance fought against it in anyway he could think. “I can fight him, you have to trust me-- I can’t just let my people die in my place.”

“I’m sorry, Lance,” Shiro said again, his voice now serious once again. “You’ll have to understand, we can’t just trust one waterbender to single-handedly fight off the Galra Empire’s Prince.”

“You haven’t seen what he can do with his airbending.” Keith said tightly as if that would crush his ambitions to protect his home. “You’d be on your way back to Zarkon before they even reached your home.”

“No, no, no,  _ please, _ ” Lance pleaded, struggling to turn away from the metal pulling at his lips. “I can do it, please I have to fight him--”

“We’re sorry Lance,” Keith said, watching as the metal pressed over his lips crawled over his nose. “But this is the only way this situation can turn out right now.”

Distantly, Lance picked up on the tightness in Keith’s voice, on how sorry Shiro actually sounded. Part of himself fought to rationalize that they sounded like they were trying to protect something in the act of kidnapping him, the other part spat back, though, that they were still allowing the slaughter of an entire tribe.

The entirety of the Southern Water Tribe would fall victim to the wrath of the Galra Empire because of them. They might return to the state they were in before the Hundred Year War, a fraction of the size they once were. They may not even survive it, by the end of the day Lance could be the only surviving member of the Southern Water Tribe and it was all thanks to these two idiots.

As Lance felt his lungs begin to burn from their lack of oxygen, his lashes fluttered shut behind the blindfold. He felt the pull of the ocean water beneath the ice, pressing against its underside as if it were trying to push through the ice so it could drag Lance into its depths where he’d be safe. 

Safe. He clung to that word hysterically as his consciousness began to slip, his chest rising unsteadily with a laugh that couldn’t escape his lips.

Funny how people were always willing to trade  _their_ safety for his own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me start with stating that this chapter when Lance's POV comes in, it isn't until a few weeks after Shiro and Keith's. I tried to find a way to fit that in there somehow, but I couldn't find any proper placement for the timestamp without the wording looking really awkward in the space. 
> 
> Also! Next chapter you get an explanation on how Shiro and Keith knew how to find Lance as well as how they knew his name right off the bat! We also get to see a little bit of Prince Lotor which, knowing how I write, is either gonna be two sentences worth of him or he's gonna get a full 3000 words and there is going to be no in between.
> 
> And I know at some point somebody's gonna point out so before I get the, "Wouldn't Lance question how they knew his name?" Let me tell you man, when you're struggling for control of your body so you can go fight an army in the name of your people, I think the last thing on your mind is going to be how do these people know my name?
> 
> Nonetheless, I hope everybody enjoyed this chapter! Kudos, comments, and bookmarks are always highly appreciated and I want to thank you all again for the amount of positive feedback I've gotten so far!
> 
> If you want to follow me on tumblr you can find me at: http://vurelly.tumblr.com/  
> I will begin to start post more about the story on my tumblr, giving you guys updates on how the next chapter is going and when I plan to post it or if it's going to be going up late. Also, I'm kind of a lazy person so I might put up some excerpts from the coming up chapters every once in a while in case anyone wants to "proofread" for me. Anyway, all of the positive feedback has been great and I thank you all so much for reading!


	3. Announcement!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'd really like to thank you guys for being so patient, and don't worry; once the new chapter is up I'll be deleting this.

Alright, so I'm sure this isn't what you guys were hoping for, but worry not because I am back and will be updating soon! First, however, I'd like to thank you guys. You've all been really, really patient with me. I don't think I've seen any comments, outside of the normal ones, that demand any type of update soon and that's really all I needed right now. 

It's been a really hard couple of months for me, guys, and I'm really thankful for everyone being so patient with me. I'm not going to go into extensive detail about what's been going on in my life, but I will say that I've been in and out of the hospital a lot these past few months and it's been a lot of gross stuff. But I'm getting better! Pretty soon here I'll be done with doctor visits (other than annual ones) and I'll be able to update regularly again! I'm gonna try to get on a schedule for updates in these upcoming weeks and I actually might be posting the next chapter either today or tomorrow! 

Either way, I'm really excited to be getting back on this. I had so much planned out for this story (and I'm thinking of even adding a few little extras here or there) and I'm not about to let a little bit of sickness get in my way of finishing it!

But I'd still like to say thank you just one more time. I'm not sure that without everyone's patience, I'd have the energy to keep writing, so thank you! Thank you all, so, so much.


	4. Seasickness and Homesickness go Hand in Hand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our three favorite benders spend their first day together on a ship while the Southern Water Tribe spends its first day with Prince Lotor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gosh, I am so sorry this took so long to put up. I signed up for a summer class that started on the 26th of June and while it was only a week long class, it just whipped me out of it so I had to take a break from writing otherwise I would've burned out in the worst way possible... 
> 
> Still, thank you all for your patience in waiting for this chapter! I hope it meets some of your expectations and as always, I'll be thrilled for any feedback that comes my way! I'll try to reply to any comment that I can (it's the least I could do for all the support you've given me so far)!
> 
> Per usual, I will leave a few notes at the end of this chapter that will hint at what's going on next chapter!
> 
> Finally! Please remember, this is not my AU! All rights of claim go to hardlynotnever on tumblr! If you get the chance you should totally check out their blog, their artwork is basically what I live for at this point. Trust me when I say that if you love Lance, you'll absolutely adore their blog.

The room Lance woke up in was so dark he wasn’t even sure he opened his eyes at first. It took him a minute to recall the events that had lead up to this point, but when he did he could feel that the blindfold was gone, the pressure of its silken touch long since disappeared from his eyelids, so he was only met with confusion when he attempted and failed at blinking away the darkness set out before him. 

He swallowed his brief panic and pressed each of his hands out to his sides. The left one hit a wall and the right one, he noted, hung in an empty space beside him, off of the bed he assumed he’d been placed on. The new knowledge eased some of his growing distress.

He sat up slowly and swung his legs off the right side of the bed, swallowing when he noticed the empty space beneath his feet. With the length of his legs, Lance assumed he had to be pretty high up to keep his feet from touching the ground.

The last time his legs had hung off a bed was when he and Ricky had put their beds on top of one another to make bunk beds and Lance had claimed the top bunk for himself. He ended up forgetting about it the next and almost sprained his ankle hopping down from his bed on his way to breakfast.

A sob tugged his lips at the thought of his younger brother. His heart ached painfully, knowing now that Ricky was long gone. Even if the Galra hadn’t gotten to his tribe yet, there was no possible way for Lance to make it home to save him, to save  _ any _ of his family.

He ignored the hot sting behind his eyes in favor of punching the bed below him. The room careened with him and Lance barely had enough time to react before he fell off the bed. He managed to catch himself just as a glass shattered against the floor beside him, though his left elbow gave out under his weight as pain blossomed in his wrist. He reminded himself to check it when he had enough light.

Dragging himself back to his feet proved to be more of an effort than originally intended and as he pressed his body against the wall beside him, he became aware that the room was swaying. At first, he thought it was the vertigo of being tossed around so suddenly but then he realized just  _ what _ had tossed him around.

He was on a boat.

Which normally would have been great, waterbenders and boats had a great history together if Lance’s memory of his history courses served him correctly, however, Lance was probably the only waterbender above the age of eighteen to have never been on a boat. Between the never being allowed to leave the house and the constant training for a skill he may never master, he just hadn’t found the time. 

He figured out quickly that his body was not agreeing with it in the slightest. Nausea pushed through his stomach faster than he could stop it and he quickly found himself hunched over the wall he had previously been leaning against, emptying the contents of his stomach. 

Lance officially hated boats.

“A seasick waterbender, now that just sounds like the start to a bad joke.” A tinny voice chuckled.

A door opened not even a full five feet away from him and the amount of light it brought in was far too much for Lance to handle in that moment. He brought a hand up to shield his eyes as Shiro’s voice came up again.

“I'm sorry, I didn't--” Shiro swore under his breath as he cracked the door. “I didn't think you were just standing in the dark…”

“I wasn't, I was vomiting in the dark.” Lance croaked. It only just occurred to him how raw his throat felt.

Lance could just barely make the outline of the smirk that pulled at Shiro’s lips. “Right,” the man murmured. “That still doesn't explain the ‘in the dark’ part.”

“Oh I'm sorry,” Lance snapped, not nearly as amused as the metalbender seemed to be as another wave of nausea rolled through his stomach. “I wasn't made aware that there was a light switch somewhere in here. I guess I forgot to search for one somewhere between the indescribable loneliness plaguing me at the thought of my now long gone family and the horrible nausea that caused me to vomit all over your floor. Please, take my sincerest apologies along with my lunch as you leave.”

Shiro visibly cringed at his words and Lance couldn’t help but feel a bit of pride in it.

“Okay,” He mumbled. “You’re angry, I get it--”

“Oh, angry doesn’t even begin to describe it, handsome.”

“--but can’t we just-- just  _ try _ to talk this out?”

“Oh yeah!” Lance exclaimed, pulling himself from the wall to walk over to Shiro despite the rocking of the ship that followed his movement. “We can talk this out as soon as you take me back to my tribe and stand trial for kidnapping one of the princes! I’m sure they’ll happily take into account that you did it so that he couldn’t fight against the Galra fleet that is now, more than likely, infiltrating and destroying his home!”

“Prince Lance, you have to understand, there’s no way you could’ve fought against an entire fleet!” Shiro argued, his face burning at Lance’s sneer at his attempt at formality. “You would’ve been kidnapped either way, this is only the lesser of two evils!”

“The lesser of two evils, he says! An entire tribe is more than likely dead due to you deciding what should be done!” Lance cried out, then quieted down immediately, only just realizing the truth behind his own words. “Because of you, my entire tribe is… is   _ dead…” _

Shiro’s hands twitched uncomfortably at his sides and Lance couldn’t help but feel a flicker of dissatisfying pride at the sight of it. It was a reassurance knowing that he felt guilty for what he did, at least, but it did nothing to stop the growing hole chewing at Lance’s chest.

“We had to,” Shiro mumbled, the strength in his voice all but gone.

_ “Bullshit.” _

“You don’t understand, Lance--”

“Maybe I don’t want to understand! Maybe I lost interest in listening to  _ you _ when you decided that you had no interest in listening to  _ me _ .” Lance spat. “You don’t get to just ignore somebody when they’re begging you to listen then ask for them to hear you out after they’ve lost everything because of you. That’s complete bullshit and--” His words tapered off. He bit back a groan as his queasiness came back to hit him full force and curled in his stomach.

Shiro’s mood took a sharp turn, immediately taking note of Lance’s ill expression, as he grabbed him by the shoulders and shoved him out of the door into the adjourning, dimly lit hallway. The waterbender hardly had the time to fully take in the view before Shiro was shoving him into a cramped bathroom and slamming the door shut behind him. 

Lance silently thanked him for the small amount of privacy he was given, though the thought was quickly forgotten as he crashed against the toilet and emptied what contents were left of his stomach into the porcelain bowl.

Another groan pressed against the back of his lips as he let his head rest against the cool ceramic. His hair clung to his forehead, now damp with sweat, as his stomach contracted violently in time with the waves rocking the boat.

Distantly, he noted the thrum of the water beneath his feet. He heard Shiro shout in the hallway, followed by a somewhat alarming thud as the bathroom began to sway in a slower yet heavier motion as if the sea were trying to unhelpfully rock the boat through Lance’s illness. 

Another cry followed Shiro’s, this one much further yet far more panicked. Lance had the mind to question it before he found himself on the bathroom floor, pain exploding behind his eyelids as his head knocked against it. His skin felt like fire against the linoleum as another wave rocked the ship and Lance felt his stomach convulse painfully. 

It made him recall the stories his mother used to tell him when he was little. The stories of the tribe’s bravest warriors going out to sea to fight wars only to lose the battles before they had begun. He remembered her telling him that the ocean was as much of a blessing to the waterbenders of the tribe as it was a curse and that he was never to give it his full trust. The ocean was to be feared as much as it was to be loved. It could change its mood as often as the phases of the moon. Where it would be calm in one moment it would turn horribly violent in the next, claiming lives of even the most experienced sailors.

Lance remembered it was the first time he’d ever argued with his mother on anything. He told her she was wrong, that the ocean wasn’t just a senseless thing with violent emotions. The ocean, he claimed, did so much to protect its benders. Every ship destroyed, every sailor killed or weapon lost was only the ocean’s attempts at stopping a war its benders would surely lose. 

It was the lesser of two evils. Take one life in order to save hundreds more.

He remembered as he lied on the bathroom floor with his clammy palms pressed against the linoleum, his mother asking just what made him think that. What he would give to see the look on her face again when he told her he just knew. That other waterbenders didn’t have the same connection to the water as he did, even if many would claim they had more simply because of the age of their own experience.

Thinking about it now, he realized just how scared his mother had been for him back then. He couldn't understand the fear she had for his power at the tender age of six, he was still unaware of his own mortality at the time. Yet as the bathroom slowed its tilt and the ship came to lie flat on the water, he understood all too clearly his mother’s stress.

There would never be another waterbender like Lance in his lifetime. He was a strength so terrible it was intended he be used as a weapon of war. He was the next biggest plaything of the Galra Empire.

And he had never felt smaller.

He had no control over his power. At best he was an unstable waterbender with a loose grip on his emotions and at worst he was a natural disaster. He was literally the greatest threat his tribe had ever come to face, crammed into one scrawny, uncoordinated body. 

It was hell.

“...Lan…”

He never took the time to think about it, but now that he had, he realized it was such an achingly painful existence.

“...nce!”

And it wasn’t like he  _ asked _ for any of it. He didn’t ask to be born so hideously dangerous, so horribly powerful that his own parents feared for his own safety outside of their home. Maybe it wasn’t even that. Maybe they weren’t worrying about his safety by keeping him in, but were worrying about the safety of the tribe if he got  _ out- _

“Lance!”

His eyes snapped open and met a sea of violet. 

At first he didn’t even realize what was happening, his train of thought content to take it’s time to catch up with him as his body took in everything: the gentle touch of cotton against his sweat soaked cheek, the twin  _ clicks _ of a plastic first aid kit popping open, the sound of calloused fingers snapping beside each of his ears, even the press of something plush against the back of his skull, a tell-tale sign that at the very least, he had been moved.

It was almost comforting, in an odd sense. Sure, he had no idea when he’d been moved nor when Shiro and Keith got  _ into _ the bathroom, but it was more of the fact that he was being cared for. It reminded him vaguely of his mother’s healing. He was almost at peace with it.

Until he felt cool fingers tug at the upper sleeve of his gloves. 

Everything snapped back into place so violently that Lance practically threw his body away from invading touch. Two sets of eyes stared at him, just as wide and shocked as his own as Lance cradled his arm against chest.

“You… You can’t touch that.” Lance breathed.

Shiro’s hands were stiff beside Keith’s thigh. One held a roll of medical gauze and the other was held mid-gesture, still frozen from where it had been rolling down Lance’s sleeve before he moved away.

“Your wrist is injured,” Keith said, his gaze falling pointedly to the arm Lance held to his chest. “We were just going to--”

“I can fix it myself,” Lance interjected. His grip on his forearm only tightened at the hardening glare Keith sent at him. 

“We can’t give you the water for that.” He said.

“Well, you’re certainly not taking off my glove.” Lance shot back.

“It’s been twisted since your father tripped you in the backstreets, you can’t just leave that on its own. It’ll set wrong.” Keith spat in reply, only realizing he said something he shouldn’t have when Lance’s mouth fell open.

“How do you know about that?” He asked quietly.

Keith shot a pleading gaze to Shiro who sighed in response. He pulled the first aid kit sitting on the bathroom floor into his lap and placed the gauze back inside it. 

“We had to make sure you were the right person we were looking for,” Shiro admitted quietly. “So before we… took you away, we spent a few days in your tribe’s area.”

Lance glanced between the pair warily. “Doing what, exactly…?” He asked.

“Asking around.” Keith stepped in. 

Lance was almost impressed by their ability to complete each other’s sentences, answer one another’s questions without their other half getting angry. Instead, anger seemed to be replaced with fond gazes, as if a silent thank you for stepping up where one of them might have been uncomfortable speaking out. 

“There aren’t any pictures of you available to the public, in fact, you’re basically nonexistent to anyone who doesn’t have any direct interest in you, so there was no way for Shiro and me to figure out who you were without asking,” Keith mumbled.

“Even then, we couldn’t exactly ask anyone directly who you were and where you lived.” Shiro continued. “People about your tribe get to be extremely closed off if you bring up anything about the first born prince.” 

Lance felt a stab of hot guilt twist in his gut. To think that it wasn’t only his family he caused so much trouble for...

“So we asked about your parents instead.” Keith shrugged. “People spoke about them much easier than they did you. After finding them it was only a matter of picking out  _ you _ in your family, which was ridiculously easy.” Shiro elbowed Keith’s side gently at that, receiving a pout in return. “ _ Anyway, _ from there we trailed you for a few days and when we found out we were running out of time we made space in the market for you to get out and… whisked you away.”

“Kidnapped me.” Lance corrected quietly.

His gaze had fallen away from the pair, instead pinning itself steadily to the bathroom floor. He could feel Shiro and Keith still watching him, their stares burning against his skin as they waited for some sort of response from him.

But he didn’t move. He couldn’t, how was he  _ supposed _ to? He was the first born prince of the Southern Water Tribe and apparently the world outside of the tribe knew nothing about him. 

On top of that, Keith and Shiro apparently weren’t some one time kidnappers, which, yeah, he figured as much already. He could pick out the context clues. But it wasn’t just that, the fact that they had been watching him, had been watching his  _ family _ for days and nobody noticed… It just struck a chord in him that sat uncomfortably, like shame, anger, and hopelessness all rolled up into one ball.

He wished he could just throw it all back up.

“Lance…?” Shiro’s voice broke gently through his trance. Blue eyes slowly lifted from the ground and met gray ones and Shiro felt his heartstrings tug painfully. Lance looked so  _ sad. _

Shiro cleared his throat tightly. “If you don’t mind, we let you ask a question so I would like to ask one myself.” He said softly. He waited patiently for a reply, either of agreement or denial, and it took another moment of him staring into those desolate, blue eyes before he realized he wouldn’t get one. “Was your bending the reason the ship was rocking like that earlier?” He asked.

“I don’t want to answer that,” Lance said. He picked himself up off the ground with such a fluid grace that Shiro almost forgot just how sad he looked.

Keith, however, didn’t seem to notice it in the slightest. “You’ve got to be shitting me.” Keith ground out. “All you owe to us is answering one damn question and you won’t even do that!”

Lance said nothing for one silent moment. His arm was clutched ever tighter against his chest, the fabric of his glove wrinkling disdainfully against his grip, and the muscles in his back drew up tightly as Lance’s stare fell back to Keith.

And Keith’s anger disappeared all at once. One look into those navy blue eyes stole his rage, his thought, and his focus all in one breath because Lance… Lance looked  _ pissed. _

It wasn’t wrath in the way that Keith had come to know it, either. Lance was an entirely different type of fury. He was the cold sea that stole the life from your lips as it dragged you under, the glassy surface that hid it’s freezing currents underneath. He was everything in his rage that Keith was not in his own.

And it only took one look for him to drown every flame in Keith’s body.

_ “I owe you nothing.” _ Lance hissed. He turned his back to the pair and walked out of the bathroom, his heels clicking crisply against the metal floors of the ship as he made his way back to his tiny bedroom and slammed his door shut.

Shiro watched Keith, who was still staring at the bathroom door, silently. He snapped the first aid kit shut and stood up, sparing Keith a second glance before he put the kit into the cabinet under the sink. 

“I have a bad feeling about him,” Keith stated suddenly.

Shiro sighed and held his hand out to Keith. He pulled him up off the ground and smoothed out the wrinkles in his clothing with a calm expression. 

“I get what you mean,” Shiro replied. “But we’re going to have him for a while, at the very least we should treat him with  _ kindness. _ This journey will be much easier if he starts to trust us.”

“I know!” Keith huffed. “I get it, but-- Shiro, he’s dangerous. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen a waterbender that can do- do  _ that _ to water below deck on a  _ ship!” _

Shiro sighed. His expression said in all parts that he agreed with Keith, but his body language was saying a completely different thing. “We can’t just drop him now, though.” He sighed. “We both knew what we were getting into when we started this, maybe not to this extent, but… You were above deck, Keith, you saw the full extent of what he can do. Answer me honestly, do you want that in the hands of the Galra Empire?”

Keith fell silent again. It took him a moment to come up with a response, but when he did he couldn’t even find his tongue to speak. He only shook his head.

“Then we can’t let that happen,” Shiro stated as if it was as simple as that. As if they could actually keep the one person the Galra Empire wanted most out of its hands while simultaneously trying to gain said person’s trust.

And maybe it would be… If only the walls weren’t so thin that they could hear Lance’s sobbing from the next room over.

* * *

 

The Southern Water Tribe had seen better days, surely. 

In most times of war, they had been given time to prepare, but they had been given nothing for this. No hint of the oncoming Galra naval forces, no preparation for the bloodthirsty prince that lead his soldiers through the streets, no  _mercy._

It was nothing short of a takeover.

Galra troops flooded through houses, dragging families from their homes before benders had even the chance to begin to put up a fight. The few who had the chance to fight either fled in fear of being captured or were beaten down before they could do any real damage. 

Children wailed for their parents, families fought to stay together, and yet all of it fell upon deaf ears. Even as his soldiers rushed into homes, the Prince of the Galra Empire continued steadily forward. His white hair pulled back into a tight bun, stood in a stark contrast against the black ash that rained down upon the street he trod down. His footsteps were light, hardly anything more than a tap against the snow crusted street as he walked ever closer to the one blue house on the block.

He was the definition of a prince in appearance. Even dressed in uniform, his posture was perfect, he walked so elegantly he didn't even look as though he were in battle. As he reached the blue house it remained, even as he kicked the door in to meet the picture of a trembling family, he was so frighteningly perfect in each movement. 

"Marie." He sighed happily at the sight of the brown-skinned woman, it was as if he were greeting an old friend. "There is something you've been hiding from my father for quite some time now, something he is not at  _all_ happy about."

Marie held her chin high, both of her arms held out protectively over her children huddled behind her. "I have no idea what you mean." She stated simply, a small part of her praying that Leon wouldn't choose to return home with Lance  _now_ of all times.

"I believe you do," Lotor replied, the smile on his lips as pleasant as ever. 

"Ah, my memory must be slipping." She said. "You know how it goes with people my age, our minds just aren't the steel traps they used to be. I'm sure you understand, your father must be somewhere around my age now."

Lotor's smile fell. "Your son." He hissed. "Your oldest, _where is he?"_

"My oldest is right here." Marie nodded her head back to a tall girl, curled around her mother's shoulder. Chills shot up her spine as Lotor's gaze fell to her. "Her name is Reyna and I assure you, she is no boy. We've already had that talk."

"Really?" Lotor questioned politely. "Are you sure enough of that to bet your life on it?"

Marie nodded her head firmly.

"How about  _hers?"_   He asked, nodding his head toward Reyna who fell still on the spot.

At Marie's legs, her two youngest gripped at her skirts, staring up their mother, waiting for her reply. And yet none came. There was nothing she  _could_ say, there was no way she was willing enough to put her own daughter's life at risk over this. Yet, if she didn't, she would be putting her son in danger.

There was no positive solution.

"I'm waiting," Lotor hummed, his patience wearing thin from watching Marie's internal argument.

"If... I were to have another son, what would you want with him?" Marie asked quietly.

Reyna gasped near silent, _"Mama, no,"_  behind her and Marie felt her heart twist painfully.

"There is a place for him in our Empire," Lotor smiled. "One for you and the rest of your family as well, if you bring him to us without any trouble."

The fire behind Marie's eyes flickered angrily. "And if I have no son?" She asked.

Lotor's stare fell back to Reyna. His wrist flicked lightly in her direction and her hand fell from her mother's shoulder. Marie twisted around just as Ricky and Maya pulled away to the other side of their mother, crying out fearfully as their elder sister collapsed to the ground, grasping at the skin around her throat.

 

"Then you have no daughter, either," Lotor replied, watching disdainfully as Reyna struggled silently for breath. 

Marie stared helplessly at her daughter, her eyes flickering between her and the prince still standing in the doorway.

"We don't know where he is." A soft voice broke in.

Lotor turned around in the doorway, the defeated form of Leon standing bruised, pressed between the bodies of two soldiers. Reyna's chest heaved suddenly with new breath and Marie fell down to her side, Ricky and Maya falling alongside with her to clutch desperately to their sister.

"What do you mean you don't know where he is?" Lotor spat, his pleasant facade all but gone.

"He's been missing for over twelve hours, now." Leon mumbled. "We just don't know where Lance is."

Lotor's eyebrows raised in surprise. He looked to Marie, huddled around her children behind him, then back to Leon, still squished between his soldier's bodies, and sighed. "Well, Father certainly isn't going to be pleased with the report, but at the very least this won't have been for nothing" He sighed, then shot a look to one of the soldiers. "As soon as you get the chance I want you to send a message directly to the capital. Tell Commander Sendak to tell Father it's a time for celebration.

The Southern Water Tribe is now under the Galra Empire's rule."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I literally cannot WAIT to get further in writing this. There are so many things I have planned out for this fic, you guys could not BELIEVE! I just want to spoil it all so bad, I'm just so upset that I can't do it yet!
> 
> Still, you guys deserve to at least know what's coming up next chapter which is basically this: a lot of boat time with our three boys. We'll get a little more on how Lance is doing as well as how Keith and Shiro are doing with Lance on the ship, as well as them trying to build up a little trust with him. We might also see a bit more of Lotor! Just depends if I need a filler or not, but I'm thinking of just bringing him in once every few chapters.
> 
> That's basically it for today, though, guys! If you ever wanna hear how I'm doing, trust me I post quite a bit about it on my tumblr. My URL for tumblr is the same as AO3, you can find me at vurelly! I'll probs post some about the fic from time to time to give updates on how the next chapter is going as well as how I'm doing, but other than that it's just a whole lotta voltron stuff.
> 
> Hope you guys had a great read!

**Author's Note:**

> Alright guys! First chapter is done! This chapter was kind of just used to introduce you to Lance's birth and how he came to be and the whatnot so it doesn't exactly have a lot of plot stuff yet. I don't know exactly how I'm going to be doing updates yet but if I figure out a schedule I'll be sure to notify you guys!
> 
> If you wanna follow me on tumblr you can find me at http://vurelly.tumblr.com/ (fair warning I don't have a lot of stuff on it yet, it's sort of a new blog for me)
> 
> Finally, thanks for reading!


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